It had been one week since Hearts and Hooves Day and Raven could still see the signs in Princess Celestia.

“Thank you,” the Princess said from her throne as she smiled down at the formerly-bickering delegates from Fillydelphia and Baltimare. “I’m delighted that the two of you could come to an understanding.”

Raven added three addendums to the minutes of what would become a new trade agreement between the two cities. While the Office of Inter-City Affairs would create the initial draft for the official document, High Strung preferred copious notes. Raven knew it was in Equestria’s best interests—and her best interests—if High Strung remained as happy as possible.

As the delegates bowed and left the throne room, Raven pondered what she could do to improve Celestia’s mood, if only for a little while.

The doors closed, leaving the two of them alone, save for a small squad of armored Sun House Guards. Raven ignored them. Her attention remained on her Princess.

To most of the ponies in Equestria—indeed, most creatures in the world—Celestia appeared as she always had. Her regal white coat was immaculate. Her golden regalia, from crown to horseshoes, remained resplendent as always. Her multicolored mane flowed in the eternal solar winds only Celestia could sense. She was tall, strong and powerful.

To the untrained eye, she appeared every inch the perfect pony princess.

She almost always did.

Almost.

“Is everything prepared?” Celestia asked, her eyes staring at the ornate double doors without seeing them.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Raven replied. With a flash of her magic, she teleported the meeting minutes to OICA, as well as another copy to the Royal Treasury Department. A second later, those notes had been replaced by Celestia’s itinerary. “Your chariot is waiting on the eastern landing platform. I’ve arranged for a full military escort the entire way.”

“You’re being overprotective again, Raven,” Celestia chided. On the surface, she used the familiar teasing tone Celestia Raven knew so well. But she had worked with the Princess of the Sun for too long to be fooled by such veneers. “You know very well what happened the first time I encountered Dragon Lord Torch.”

“That depends on whose account you’re reading. Most Equestrian histories record it as being an entirely peaceful affair.” Raven gave a ghost of a smile while Celestia continued to stare at nothing. “The dragon records report that you were locked in savage combat for seven days and six nights. Only after one week did the Dragon Lord deign to acknowledge you equal to his might and offered a truce to recognize your skill in granting him such a glorious contest.”

Raven rolled her eyes. Dragons could be so overdramatic.

“I must speak to him about that.” Celestia hummed. She still didn’t look up. “After all, I distinctly remember bucking him into an active volcano.”

“That is of little consequence to a dragon of his stature.” Raven pointed out, forcing some semblance of mirth into her voice. “I doubt that would have given him much pause.”

“It didn’t,” Celestia replied. “But afterward, he laughed so hard, I didn’t mind. Especially after he tried to drown me in molten lava. Apparently, it hadn’t occurred to him that, as the Princess of the Sun, I have a unique relationship with fire.”

For a few brief moments, the hint of a smile crossed over Celestia’s elegant features. Then, it collapsed behind the mask thickening for the last three months.

“At least you coaxed Philomena into joining you,” Raven offered. “That in and of itself—”

Celestia sighed quietly and got to her hooves. The Sun House Guards in the room stood a little straighter. Raven frowned as Celestia stepped from her dais and walked around to her aide’s side. “Walk with me to my chariot, Raven.”

The small smile she wore remained as false as the civility the two delegates had shown to one another upon entering the Audience Chamber. Only Celestia’s own training prevented Raven from frowning at it.

“Of course, Your Majesty.” Raven dismissed her clipboard, gesturing for Celestia to take the lead.

Celestia slipped through one of the side doors, Raven at her side. Almost a full minute passed of quiet hallways and dim passages before Celestia stopped and studied a wall sconce.

Raven found herself unable to remain silent.

“Princess, you saw her yesterday—”

“Yes, I did.” Celestia studied a nearby wall sconce. Her horn flared and she straightened it by half a degree in a burst of golden magic. “She… said she had a good time.”

“I’ve spoken to Surprise several times, Your Majesty. She is a good pony. Probably one of the best Wonderbolts we’ve had in fifty years, save for perhaps Spitfire.”

“No mention of Wind Rider, Raven?” Celestia commented idly. “If memory serves, you had a bit of an interest there.”

Raven blushed faintly, but when she really listened to the voice behind those teasing words, the blush faded instantly. The warmth in her voice, the gentle prodding and cajoling that so often accompanied Celestia’s words when she spoke with those closest to her… All of it was gone.

Raven sighed softly. “Princess…”

Celestia took a few more steps beyond her aide and then came to a halt. She didn’t turn around. Instead, in the silence of the narrow servant’s corridor, Celestia’s head bowed as if the weight of the entire world rested upon her shoulders.

The worst part was… it did.

“Ever since that night, Raven…” Celestia whispered. The magic in her hair seemed to fade, leaving it limp and far more pink than usual. “We watched them play in the snow. We watched them enjoy themselves out on the ice. I remember her looking up to the balcony. What I saw there…”

For the briefest of moments, Raven found herself concerned. Yes, she was Princess Celestia’s confidant and friend, but she was also her aide. And it wouldn’t do for a servant or messenger to come bustling through to see the Princess of the Sun near tears. In the worst-case scenario, the rumors alone could shake the very foundations of Equestria.

Raven decided she didn’t care.

Instead, she stepped beside the large alicorn and rested a hoof on the shoulder of her friend. It wasn’t a gesture one could do to a monarch. It was too familiar. But this wasn’t a time for formalities.

If Celestia was right—and Raven had no reason to doubt her Princess—then this was a time for friendship, more than any other.

“Every day that passes, my fear grows,” Celestia whispered. “In my desperation to prepare Sunset Shimmer for her future, I have sacrificed her present.”

“Princess,” Raven said softly, conjuring a bubble of silence around the two ponies. Just in case. “We spoke of this six weeks ago. Doubt or no, you have to see this through. Your experience—”

“My experience means little in the present situation.” Celestia’s voice cracked only a fraction before she regained control. She’d practiced too long to allow herself the comforts of mortal ponies, such as crying. “I have planned for the coming day for centuries, Raven. And now… she tears herself apart before me, wracked by guilt, because of a few words spoken out of fear.”

Raven hesitated. “Have you considered… intervening?”

“It would shatter their unity.” Celestia shook her head, her faded multicolored mane twisting this way and that. “If I step forward, it will unbalance all three—and likely the rest as well. They won’t be ready. Sunset’s friends may yet pull her back.”

“She’s distancing herself from them, Your Majesty.”

“I know.”

“They won’t be able to reach her if she doesn’t let them.”

“I know.”

“You can’t simply hope it’ll fix itself, Princess.”

Celestia finally met Raven’s eyes. There was a hint of amusement in her gaze, a tiny ember of the fire that burned within her Princess.

“Somepony’s gotten bold, Raven.”

“I learned from the best.”

“I daresay you did.”

“So, what do you intend to do?”

Celestia took a deep breath and seemed to shake away some of her melancholy. She stood a little straighter, her mane once more gained its usual color and luster.

“You’ve asked me that several times since Twilight Sparkle came back into Sunset Shimmer’s life, Raven. Yet my answer remains the same. I must trust her. I know Sunset’s heart and it is a good one.”

“I know, Your Majesty,” Raven replied. “But good hearts can become corrupted if isolated.”

Celestia physically winced at that and Raven blanched as she realized her error.

Her heart hammering in her chest, Raven quickly said, “Your Majesty, I—”

“Said nothing that wasn’t true,” Celestia said with a sigh, her eyes tight and closed, almost like a filly hiding from the monster under the bed. “She is tearing herself apart before us and all know it. Her friends, us… even herself. I fear… She walks a familiar path. I can’t lose her. I won’t. Not like I lost—” She hesitated again. “And still, I don’t know how to save her from that snake that lurks in her mind.”

“Perhaps somepony else should try.”

Celestia chuckled morosely. “She has many friends, Raven. All have tried. All have failed.”

“I haven’t,” Raven replied quietly.

Celestia paused for a moment, staring again at the wall sconce.

“You know your chances of success are low.”

“There is no true success in these matters, there is only the road leading to it,” Raven replied. “You taught me that, a long time ago.”

“So I did,” Celestia smiled wanly. “Where would I be without you, Raven?”

“Likely on time to your chariot,” Raven said in what she considered to be a rather sad attempt at humor.

Celestia shook her head, then looked closer at the sconce. With a flare of her magic, she adjusted it back to the slightly crooked angle, though it did little to adjust the light in the room.

“Princess?”

“A reminder to myself,” Celestia mused, almost as if speaking to herself. “A reminder that a thing does not need to be perfect to do its job. Or to be beautiful.”

The Princess of the Sun licked her lips and once again strode down the corridor. “Come Raven. I must be on my way. Otherwise the flight crew will become cranky. We do not want that.”

Raven hurried after her. “As if they’d ever say anything. You’re the Princess.”

“Speaking of which,” she said as she marched through the door and onto the landing platform. “Do you know where I put the documentation regarding the Regent proposal? I wanted to make several revisions to the length of time I had to be incapacitated before the bylaws took effect.”

Raven flushed and almost stumbled as the flight crew and the Fourth Pegasi Squadron saluted the Princess.

“I couldn’t say,” Raven said, lying through her teeth.

“Oh well, I’ll have to find it when I get back,” Celestia replied in an all-too-casual voice. “Hopefully nothing comes up while I’m gone.”

Raven ground her teeth together. She knew all too well about that cursed document. Because there was only one name listed on it for potential candidates.

Hers.

Celestia finally turned back around and smiled down at Raven, but once again, Raven saw the mask.

“Try to help her,” she whispered. “Please.”

Raven couldn’t overtly comfort the princess here, but after so many years together, she knew more subtle ways. With a simple spell, she pressed down on Celestia’s shoulders in what she knew would feel like a hug. Celestia smiled in thanks, her eyes shining in the sunlight.

“I shall do everything I can, Princess,” Raven said. “You have my word.”

“I know you will,” Celestia replied. “You always do.”

Then, the Monarch of Equestria boarded her chariot and departed with a single wave to Raven.

Raven stood on the landing platform long after Princess Celestia, the chariot and the escort had disappeared into the distance. Her eyes wandered over the city of Canterlot, noting the spires, towers and buildings of ivory and gold.

Then, she looked out over the Everfree Forest in the distance. She shivered and turned away, heading back into the Castle.

It was time to find Sunset Shimmer.

Probably one of my favorite aspects of this particular scene, aside from the sheer vulnerability of Celestia, is that little thing she did with the wall lamp. It's just... so Celestia.

Oh right, also? Hi. Been a while, hasn't it? Heh.